Various constructions for container closures have been developed over the years in order to provide effective closure and sealing, while permitting convenient closure removal for consumption or use of the container contents. By way of example, use of internally threaded, molded plastic closures has become increasingly widespread by virtue of the sealing integrity which they provide, especially for carbonated beverages, while facilitating convenient removal by consumers. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,407,422, 4,497,765, 4,418,828, and 4,938,370, all hereby incorporated by reference, disclose various compression-molded plastic closures which have proven to be very commercially successful, in part due to the tamper-indicating features with which such closures can be provided.
Internally-threaded closures of the above type have, in part, supplanted use of metal, so-called crowns, which have been, and continue to be employed on beverage containers. While closures of this type provide the desired sealing integrity, such closures have typically required use of an opener or like implement to effect their removal from an associated container. While manually-removable “twist-off” crowns are known, such closures require a specialized container “fmish” at the neck portion, and can still be difficult for some consumers to remove without use of an opener or the like. Additionally, metal crown closures typically do not include any specific tamper-indicating feature, which can be desirable to assure consumers of a container's integrity.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide a closure for a container which can be efficiently applied, and easily removed by consumers without an associated opener or like implement. Aside from providing the desired sealing integrity, particularly for carbonated contents, it is desirable to provide a closure which is configured for tamper-evidence.